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No. 19 Springfield Stuns No. 8 Middlebury

from press release

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Sophomore goalkeeper Robert Maher
registered a career-best 17 saves to lead the 19th-ranked
Springfield College men's lacrosse team to a convincing 14-5 win
over 8th-ranked Middlebury on Stagg Field Wednesday afternoon.

The Pride now stand at 3-1 on the year, while the Panthers drop
to 1-1. This marks the first time that Springfield has knocked off
Middlebury since March 29, 2006 when the Pride bested then
4th-ranked Middlebury, 11-10.

In a game that was very evenly statistically, it was the
goaltending that proved to be the deciding factor. Maher stopped 17
of the 30 shots he faced in the game, while his counterpart, Nate
Gaudio, made just six saves on 31 shots.

Offensively for the Prid, Eric Balslov had a huge performance,
tallying four assists and two goals for a game-high six points.
Mike Delia posted five assists and a goal, while Shane Ferguson
found the back of the cage four times. Ryan Murphy tallied three
goals and an assist and Branden Fernandez scooped up a team-best
six ground balls.

For the visitors, Mike Giordano was the lone Panther with
multiple points as he recorded two goals and two assists. Billy
Chapman was all over the field, causing three turnovers to go along
with a game-high seven ground balls.

Jack Balaban opened up the scoring as he converted along the
crease 1:07 into the game to give the Panthers an early lead. Just
seven seconds later, Murphy stuck his shot low following a great
look from Ryon Lynch to even the game. Middlebury then took their
final lead of the game at the 7:42 mark of the opening quarter on a
man-up strike from Giordano.

From that point on, the Pride rattled off nine unanswered goals
and held the visitors off the scoreboard for nearly 21 minutes.
Consecutive strikes from Balslov in the final 2:27 of the first
quarter provided the hosts with a 3-2 lead.

In the second, Springfield scored the first seven goals,
including six in a 4:32 span to blow the game open. Goals from Dom
Roberto and Mike Donoghue just nine seconds apart with 3:21 left
gave the hosts an eight-goal cushion at 10-2. Giordano finally
broke the Panthers drought with a shot that found the top corner as
the teams went into halftime with the score 10-3.

Ferguson kicked off the third quarter with a highlight reel
goal, battling through checks along the crease before scoring with
13:07 on the clock. Tim Cahill answered back for the Panthers with
10:57 to go, but markers from Ferguson and Murphy made the score
13-4 after three quarters of play.

Dylan Sheehan got into the scoring mix to put Springfield up 10
with 11:30 remaining after he found the lower corner of the cage
following a great look from Balslov. Middlebury's Scott Redmond
closed out the scoring 18 seconds later, and the Pride used five
saves from Maher in the quarter to hold on for the win.

Springfield will travel to Florida to take on Keene State on
Saturday afternoon. Face-off in the Sunshine State is slated for
12:30 pm.